A career in tech offers multiple opportunities outside of engineering and coding. VMware employee Shannon Douglas has made a successful career in sales through his passion for leadership, coaching, and positively impacting people’s lives.
The regional sales director spoke to AfroTech about the diverse opportunities in tech and his role in helping the business thrive.
“I think sales is a great place for people that are interested in a career in tech,” Douglas said. “[If] you’re more of a people person, more oriented towards conversation, sales is a great place to go. I think there’s a lot of business acumen that you can develop here. There’s a lot of relationship building and sales is a people business. So, it’s understanding how technology solves problems, which is super important.”
Douglas also spoke on the universal skill sets that are needed for sales and how to properly apply for roles such as his.
“Continual advice in interviewing and in … your career, [and] something that’s served me well is … trying to determine what their [the customer’s] mindset is,” Douglas said. “And, what I mean by mindset is just basically, there’s a lot of things in sales or [your] career, in life, that you have no control over. I’m looking for the person who’s focused on the things that they can control, because that person is going to continue to do that analysis or going to continue to get better, and they’re going to continue to excel at all times because they’re focused on that,” he added.
Learn more about the many opportunities at VMware here and check out the interview with Douglas below:
This piece has been brought to you in partnership with VMware.
